The present invention relates generally to the field of tagline devices.
Tagline devices of the type involved herein are conventionally employed on cranes to maintain tension on a tagline cable connected with a material handling device, such as a bucket, which is operated by the crane, to prevent erratic movements of the material handling device as it is raised and lowered. Basically, these tagline devices usually include a rotatably supported reel about which the tagline cable is wound, a fixed fairlead being provided which is intended to smoothly guide the cable to and from the reel as the cable is being payed out and retrieved during changes in the position of the material handling device to which it is connected. A problem arises in these known arrangements, in that the optimum orientation of the fairlead cable guide means varies with the usual swing of the material handling device during operation of the crane. Thus, as the lead-off angle of the cable passing through the cable guide means varies, due to the swing of the material handling device, the cable at some angular positions has a tendency to bind unduly in the cable guide means, and ceases to travel smoothly therethrough.
The self-adjusting fairlead of the present invention is designed to overcome and substantially eliminate the above noted problem.